DOS issued a public notice [Public Notice 10121] regarding the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program for 2019. ‘‘Diversity immigrants” are from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. For fiscal year 2018, 50,000 diversity visas (DVs) will be available. There is no cost to register for the DV Program.
Completing Your Electronic Entry for the DV–2019 Program. Submit your Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form (E–DV Entry Form or DS–5501), online at dvlottery.state.gov. DOS will not accept incomplete entries.
Applicants must submit entries for the DV–2019 DV program electronically at dvlottery.state.gov between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT–4), Tuesday, October 3, 2017, and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT–5), Tuesday, November 7, 2017. Starting May 1, 2018, you will be able to check the status of your entry by returning to dvlottery.state.gov, clicking on Entrant Status Check, and entering your unique confirmation number and personal information.
DOS selectees through a randomized computer drawing. Diversity visa numbers are distributed among six geographic regions, and no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.
For DV–2019, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply, because more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.
